


I wait (for something to change)

by raininggoldfish



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Coffee Shops, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Friends to Lovers, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, One Night Stands, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Possibly Unrequited Love, References To FRIENDS, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-02-23 14:12:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13191759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raininggoldfish/pseuds/raininggoldfish
Summary: [originally Watercolour daydreams and scented markers]The rain made Wonpil’s eyes darker, like you could swim in their midnight darkness and right now that was all Sungjin wanted to do. The rain made Wonpil's silhouette stand out from the blurred and discoloured background. Sungjin could see it all now that Wonpil was something else. He had seen Wonpil as something in his way, an obstacle or something blocking the view of his future, his goal in life, but looking at the student before him he sees a lost little boy looking for love and friendship, he's broken and wants nothing more to be accepted but both himself and Sungjin have been pushing their friendship away. Maybe this is the moment that Sungjin realised that maybe Wonpil wasn't his worst enemy but rather he was jealous of everything Wonpil had, he overlooked what he didn't have and now he admits to maybe he was falling slowly in love with Wonpil. He's slowly admitting that he pushed him away to protect himself and he can see he's hurt the younger just as much as he's been hurt by him and he's hurt himself.“can I come in?”





	1. Chapter 1

**SUNGJIN**

 Grey skies are beautiful, in a bland simpleton way. Grey skies brought the rain that decorated the earth, the rain that made people smile and cry but grey skies also brought the rain that cooled the dry, damaged, barren land. Rain itself is magical. Rain makes flowers grow and rivers overflow, rain made people happy and hid people’s tears, rain gave the world life and could take away life. Sungjin began to realise one day that grey skies and rain were what Jae and Brian were, a combination of beauty and danger and the combination was amazing.

It took Sungjin months to realise he was envious of his roommate and his best friend, their dynamics were something else. More and more often Sungjin would be walking into the apartment he shared with Jae to find him and Brian doing anything from cooking to playing various video games and on one occasion he even walked in on them cleaning. Everything they did seemed to be together and it was getting to the point Brian spent more time crashing on their sofa than returning to his own dorm on the university campus, Sungjin had half a mind to start asking Brian for rent.

There was routine and then there was Jae and Brian. If Sungjin didn’t know better, he would say the pair were dating but Sungjin was smarter than that – it was painstakingly obvious Jae was straight. However, it didn’t stop Sungjin from envying the dynamics they shared as a pair. Everything about them was grey skies and heavy rain. Brian were the rains that could create or destroy, Sungjin noticed this when he read the many song lyrics he wrote about the world around him. Jae were the grey skies that held something beautiful in their mystery, Sungjin had acknowledged this description of Jae when he realised he barely knew who Jae was.

Sungjin would never have something like his roommate and his best friend because he was the calm before the storm, the sore thumb, the oddity. Sungjin was like an open book, simple and routine based. For him to be balanced out like the pair he envied so much he needed somebody like a summer day. All bright eyed and smiles that could cure diseases. A warm summer day leads into that calm before the storm just like grey skies lead to rain.

His love of weather fuelled his imagination full of descriptions and backstories for the people he saw in the world around him. Those thoughts became words and those words became the reason Sungjin is majoring in English literature. Sungjin was successful at everything but finding what was missing, he was missing his summer day. The words Sungjin spoke were converted effortlessly to motion picture by his roommate – sometimes his words even became melodies thanks to Brian. His words always reached Brian and Jae who promoted them, hopefully aiding Sungjin in his quest of finding a summer day to match his calm before the storm persona.

The world of Sungjin is filled with strong coffee too hot to drink and bitterness towards the friendship of Park Jaehyung and Kang Younghyun he had been seeing blossom before his eyes for the past 6 years. In Sungjin’s world it’s basic and bland, as Jae had once described it: it’s a Charlie Chaplin film without the humour. Everything in his life reflected who Sungjin was, he was a simple man with the simple aspiration of being remembered by those he knew, for better or for worse didn’t matter to him.

* * *

**WONPIL**

Blue is a cold colour but also the colour of sickness. Wonpil hated the colour and yet everything around him was painted shades of blue and purple to show his thoughts to the world. To paint in warmer colours would to be to contrast with himself, he is warm and bright sometimes described as friendly and bubbly but he wanted his work to fit in with him. A thousand times Dowoon had tried to tell him that he didn’t need to be so depressing with his work but to explain that to the aspirational artist would be like talking to a brick wall so for the days on end Wonpil locked himself in his room to focus on his upcoming masterpiece the younger would escape to the dorm Junhyeok appeared to share with no one and focus on his photography coursework with Junhyeok’s help.

When Wonpil did lock himself in his room it was to allow his creativity to flow from his mind and to the canvas before him. Although, more often than not he would lie on the floor with his hamster, Eunji, crawling across his chest as he asked the poor rodent various questions about the existence of the universe and if he would ever meet somebody that would be the purple and blue and black night drop to his vibrant orange and pink sunset. Sometimes the wonder was done in his head sometimes it was out loud to Eunji but either way Wonpil had dreams of relationships and marriage and all the things in between. Oddly enough, he even dreamed of paint coming to life too so to say his dreams were normal was a lie.

Water colours and acrylic paints littered the floor of Wonpil’s dorm room but chalks and oil pastels decorated every other surface he found in his room. Everything you could lay your eyes on was littered with colours of a thousand sunrises, sunsets and everything in between. It was how Wonpil liked his life: bright and colourful. His room was crowed like his head was full of thoughts and ideas. If he didn’t need his qualifications and skills he acquired through college life, he would never be able to make it in the world as what he wanted to be known as. Kim Wonpil had dreams and most of them contained his name on golden plaques beneath displays of his artwork for the world to see.

Wonpil lived in a world based on colours and aesthetics, to describe Wonpil’s own world it would be a collection of everything obscure and unexpected in colours ranging from midnight blue to sunset pink. He was a bright person with a contagious smile and the world at his fingertips.

* * *

**BRIAN**

Kang Younghyun, christened Brian by everyone around him couldn’t lie.

He couldn’t lie saying he hated being called Brian because secretly it made him feel a part of something. He couldn’t lie that he wanted to go home, he never wanted to go home to his own dorm knowing Sungjin and Jae’s apartment was warm and never empty. He couldn’t keep lying to himself that his heart skipped a beat every time he made his best friend laugh, smile or even look at him.

Brian cherished his time with Jae but there was something telling him in the back of his mind he was doing the one thing no one should do – falling for their best friend. Their very _straight_ best friend. Sure, everyone knew he wasn’t exactly heterosexual but it was still slightly embarrassing to admit to himself there was even the slightest possibility he was falling for his best friend of the past 6 six years and hopefully counting.

It made Brian cautious around Jae these days because he feared he might let something slip or show him something he wasn’t meant to in his saved work folder. Jae was Brian’s secret muse to say the least. He would wright about Jae more often than something reasonable, so yeah, he was falling pretty hard for someone he could never have.

Much like that of everyone else around him Brian had his own way of describing the world he lived in. It was filled with melodies and whispers. Love and loss. Brian recorded all this in his music to reflect the world, whether it be his own world or the world around him he shared it didn’t matter, they both made it to paper eventually, usually based on the thoughts that run through his head daily as he spends time with Jae, talks with Sungjin and nights he crashes on their sofa at the end of it all.

* * *

**JAE**

Jae likes to consider himself a matchmaker so when he witnesses bright and bubbly Wonpil throw a glass of cold water in his face he is pleasantly surprised by the liquid seeping through his shirt at an alarming rate. Jae had hoped to witness a scene like in some romantic film where two strangers fall helplessly in love because of their cats being siblings or something, instead he got a Godzilla remake with Wonpil as Godzilla as he storms out of the coffee shop. It’s clear to anyone at this point that Park Jaehyung is _not_ a matchmaker.

Sungjin on the left of Jae is looking horrified and from a table just across the coffee shop, Brain and his roommate are sniggering to themselves at the fall of the mighty Jae. Sadly, Jae doesn’t have time to accept that his current shirt is half see-through and water is slowly dripping all over the floor, instead he’s clumsily scampering out of the coffee shop titled ‘Morning Brew’ and racing to catch up with a very angry Wonpil, sprayed all apologies he could think of under the sun to make up for the date he had set up between Sungjin and Wonpil.

Nothing was working and Jae was helplessly embarrassed because as it turned out, the pair had known each other years, and Jae had clearly ignored the conversation he and Wonpil had had a few weeks ago on ‘I hate Park Sungjin so much, this week he _smiled_ at me Jae!’ To say the least Jae was going to have to change his name to Ricardo and move back Argentina with a goat named Bertha where no one will know his name or that his friend wants him dead for trying to get him to date his self-declared worst enemy which seems a little over the top but this is Kim Wonpil we’re discussing here and everything about him is too much over top. Possibly one of the only reasons Jae and Wonpil got along was their share of unnecessary dramatics at the wrong times, for example: Wonpil throwing a glass of water in Jae’s face because he set him up on a date with somebody he wouldn’t be caught dead talking to in public let alone looking at them.

Finally, Jae’s lack of physical ability was no longer the source of attention because the crossing ahead had changed from green to red, capturing Wonpil on the side of the road Jae was on, giving him plenty of time to grab a hold of Wonpil’s horrible pink knitted jumper, he had promised himself he would have burned weeks ago, and hurled Wonpil back into the tiny Coffee shop back down the street. Inside the coffee shop Jae began to worry about his nearly see-through shirt and made Wonpil buy him the most expensive iced coffee on the menu while someone in the back of the shop Sungjin was glaring daggers into the back of his roommate’s head for agreeing to go into the coffee shop with him, only to discover it was Jae and Brian attempting to set him up with somebody else he wanted nothing to do with.


	2. Chapter 2

**SUNGJIN and the infamous JAEHYUNGPARKIAN**

When he gets home, he slams his bedroom door a little too hard. When he gets home, he shouts a little too loud at Dowoon over the phone. When he gets home, all he wants to do is strangle Jae. Sungjin’s mind is running at a mile a minute and the only way he seems to be able to process all his thoughts is to write it all down. Unfortunately, Sungjin’s words sprung from the page to his mouth and all over again he was shouting at somebody, only this time it was Jae who was feeling very sorry for himself after his matchmaking failed so miserably. Sungjin took no pity and lay on into Jae and scolded him a few million times in one sentence as Brian watched on, amused while making coffee from the safety of the tiny kitchen tucked away in the corner of the Apartment’s living room.

“And another thing Jaehyung!” Sungjin took a few steps towards the elder and the taller of the pair and thrust his index finger under his nose, “Never ever do me a favour again if it’s going to require me breathing the same air as that daydreaming art major because the last thing I need is a headache at the minute!” It was unusual of Sungjin to blow a fuse like this but it was certainly amusing Brian as he watched the roommates ‘argue’ back and forth but it was mostly Sungjin shouting, sometimes even throwing in a few profanities here and there while Jae did his best to hid his lank frame behind doors, chairs, the coffee table and a one point he even launched himself over the sofa to hide from a very irate Sungjin who was wielding an expensive fountain pen like a short sword ready to murder Jae.

Jae raised his arms in defeat, completely terrified of the Sungjin before him. “Look, look, I’m sorry Bob.” Wrong move because Sungjin was chasing after him again, ready to tear him limb from limb. Sungjin wasn’t irate, annoyed or angry at this point, he was livid because yet again, Park Jaehyung had belittled and compared him to a children’s cartoon character. Jae was fleeing out the front door in his socks and pyjamas with a livid, red faced Sungjin on his tail threatening his end if he didn’t apologise like the 26-year-old he was supposed to be.

“Park Jaehyung I’m going to make you wish you weren’t born if you don’t get back here now!”

* * *

**DOWOON and WONPIL**

Yoon Dowoon is a 22-year-old photographer who would love nothing more than to smack Kim Wonpil and Park Sungjin’s heads together. He’d know both of them for as long as his memory allowed him to go back. Wonpil had been his cousin’s neighbour growing up and with how close his family was he would see Wonpil _at least_ three times a week and Sungjin was the student-teaching assistant in his English classes in school. Dowoon liked to believe he knew Wonpil and Sungjin quite well but he had no idea as to why the pair would hate each other so much. Wonpil was a smiley, bright student while Sungjin was a very studious and pensive student. They were pretty similar when taken down to the bone.

Dowoon was currently stretched across the dorm sofa with Wonpil resting his head on his stomach complaining about how much of an idiot Jae is. Dowoon couldn’t help but smile to himself as he played with Wonpil’s hair, “Calm down a bit, I don’t think Jae would’ve done it deliberately.” Wonpil sighed, his agreement muffled by Dowoon’s Metallica shirt, “You know Jae can be a little indignant at times, just apologise to him and move on with your life Wonpil.” For a kid whose most dramatic life experience is limited to learning how to use his new electric kettle he gave out some pretty solid life advice. “Just don’t murder him please, hyung.” Dowoon mumbled, throwing in an honorific for good measure.

Wonpil began to play with the end of Dowoon’s shirt, promising him he wouldn’t do anything of the sort when there was a loud bang, several times louder than necessary for anyone, echoed across their dorm room, the source: the front door.

The first to their feet was Wonpil who darted like a puppy to the front door, hoping it would be the new laptop he ordered at his parents’ expenses as he spilt coffee on his last one a week ago after he had got lost in a mini rant about Park Sungjin and had forgotten the coffee cup had been in his hand. Regrettably, it was Sungjin at the door, soaked to the skin. Wonpil snickered at the sight and then squinted his eyes at the elder, “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask exactly the same thing about you, where’s Dowoon?” Sungjin demanded, shoving past Wonpil to find the younger student who was lying face first on the floor, surprise written all over his face as he clambered to his feet slowly, “Dowoon, do you still have that change of clothes of mine here? Also why is he here? I thought you roomed with Junhyeok?” Dowoon rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as he contemplated his answer, “I’ve still got the change of clothes but I thought I already explained? Junhyeok is Brian’s roommate..?”

* * *

 

**JAE(HYUNGPARKIAN)**

So Jae may have made a mistake throwing a bucket of water of water over Sungjin’s head because now he’s lying on the sofa with a bad of peas somewhere no one shoulder ever need a bag of peas but blame Sungjin and his rage. Brian is trapped under Jae and cannot move and Jae’s enjoying the view of the TV from where he is a little too much. He isn’t really watching the TV, it’s more of an excuse for Jae to listen to Brian laugh at something on his phone. You see, the entire world has always assumed there to be something heteronormative to Jaehyung, maybe it was because he had his bible on his desk or because he liked to randomly make comments about various things non-heteronormative people wouldn’t think about. The bible is actually hollow for him to hide his expensive camera from Dowoon and the comments are just Jae being, well, Jae. Jae wouldn’t lie, he didn’t consider himself heterosexual but he didn’t consider himself Korean half the time either, he doesn’t feel the need for labels.

And, yeah, Jae is in love with Brian’s laugh.

Jae huffs and turns the TV off, no longer interested in the drama that was playing. “You wanna go get something to eat Burger Kang?” Jae could see the murder in Brian’s eyes but it was laughed off as Brian agreed to go get something to eat if Jae was buying, which of course he was – anything for his slightly under dramatic best friend.

That’s how Jae and Brian find themselves 20 minutes later stuffed into an already packed out McDonalds, squished into one half of a booth with their meals, sharing a table with a kid who looks no older than 15 and looks like they feel – exhausted. At one point, Jae is sure he sees the kid fall asleep in his fries for a minute or so.

The table is so squished that Jae has Brian basically in his lap – he’s not complaining – and Brian practically had his elbow in Jae’s food which is _totally_ not a problem when you’re trying to eat a big mac in peace. It’s at the point where Jae is taking a bite of his burger and then giving Brian chance to eat his own until they get into a rhythm where Jae’s glasses aren’t knocked off every time the raven haired male beside him takes a bite of his burger and Jae isn’t smacking Brian in the nose every time he tries to eat his own meal. It’s comical, almost.

Neither complained as they ate and when they were done Brian swiped Jae’s strawberry milkshake and helped him clear their leftovers into the generously provided dustbins scattered throughout the fast food establishment. “Good thing I didn’t want any more isn’t it?” Jae sighed, shaking his head and opening the door for Brian, “I know you enough, you don’t have to pretend you didn’t leave the last of it for me.” Brian laughed. For the last go knows how long Brian has made it an end of meal tradition that if they go to McDonald’s to swipe the last of Jae’s strawberry milkshake, and over the past god knows how long Jae has been making sure he orders a large strawberry milkshake because he could never finish one by himself and he knows something stolen is always better than your own anyways. “So, Mr Kang, where would you like to go next?” Jae smiled, running like a child to press the button on the traffic lights so the pair could cross the street.

Brian mused over his choices as he strolled back over to his best friend, his brown haired giant sporting a giant, extremely childish, grin on display. “I don’t know Mr Park, how does the park sound?” Excitement filled Jae’s eyes, his smile eager.

The park isn’t so much a park but an old swing set in the middle of a field on the north side of town but just behind the swing set and a few bushes it the greatest tree to exist Jae had declared when he was 11 and still in awe of everything around him. The tree was folded over on itself and its branches grew to surround the tree in a way to create the ‘awesom-est’ den ever. Mostly Jae and Brian just went there to stare at the stars together and do the stuff they didn’t share with anyone else, like talk about the many heartbreaks they’ve been through and the real reason Brian never wanted to go back to his own dorm of a night time.

“Race you to the swings!” Brian had shrieked, laughing like a child before darting for the swings. Jae laughed, being dragged out of his daydreams and chased his best friend up the hill and softly – if you can describe it as that – tackled Brian from behind, causing them both to roll back down the hill. Jae was first up this time and was making a mad dash for the swing set just a few metres away when Brian repeated exactly what Jae had just done and yet again they rolled back down the hill, their clothes covered in grass stains and mud but they couldn’t really care less anymore as they laughed and threw bits of grass and twigs at one another.

Brian broke free of Jae’s grip and charged straight back up the hill, laughed and making comments about how Jae could never catch him over his shoulder. Jae sprang back to his feet and raced back after Brian. As Jae was growing nearer Brian spun around to see what was keeping Jae so long only to feel Jae collide with his body and fall backwards with Jae landing on top of him, practically suffocating him.

God knows what went through Jae’s head next.

A smile graced Jae’s face as he blew his breath across Brian’s nose which made the younger screw his nose up. Cute Jae thought to himself. The next thing Jae realised he was doing was something he never thought he would ever do or have the courage to do. There they were, Jae and Brian, Brian and Jae lying in the middle of a forgotten field about a foot away from their goal of reaching the swing set full on making out like their lives depended on it. It was a pretty spur of the moment thing and Jae wasn’t going to turn around and say he wasn’t enjoying it and Brian wasn’t going to lie, he was liking it too.

“What the fuck was that?” Brian panted slightly, staring at Jae wide eyed and a little unsure. Brian liked to consider himself quite a confident person and he had been pretty confident that Jae was as straight as a straight line but it seems he was either very, very wrong or Jae is playing with his heart. Jae pushed his glasses up his nose slightly as rolled off Brian to stare at the moon beside him, “That, was me realising something.” Jae replied, his attention on the moon above. “Hey BriBri, is now a bad time to ask you out on a date?”

The silence between the pair was then filled with Brian’s laugh that Jae so much adored, “Well I don’t know…” He teased, reaching for Jae’s hand, “If I say I’ll go on a date with you will you kiss me again?” Jae didn’t have to think twice before he gave Brian his almost too eager response, “I’ll kiss you any time you want if you’ll go on a date with me Mr Kang.”

Brian smiled, rolling his eyes at his best friend, “The it’s settled Mr Park, you can take me on a date.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

**SUNGJIN**

To be sober wasn’t the desired goal currently as Sungjin was knocking back another drink that would aid to his regret of the night in the morning. He had recently got his results back on his midterms and he was beyond disappointed in himself. Another drink was going down the hath when someone joined Sungjin, sharing the bottle of soju between them. “Bad results?” Wonpil asked, his eyes a little unfocused as he asked Sungjin the question. Sungjin may not have a particular sweet spot for Wonpil he was craving the sympathetic company currently.

Sungjin slumped toward the table, defeated. “Is it that obvious?” Wonpil laughed, his shoulders shaking with the noise erupting from his chest, “Dowoon might have mentioned it.” A fool Sungjin felt but Park Sungjin wouldn’t be fooled by someone he loathed reaching out for something that certainly wouldn’t be a friendship, “Why are you here Wonpil?” The name was like acid on Sungjin’s tongue, he tried not to look too repulsed by the name but it was a little too late for that now. “My results came in fir my project and I want to drown my sorrows.” Retorted Wonpil, pouring a drink for Sungjin.

The pair spent the better part of the evening drinking and laughing at stories they had experienced. By time Sungjin was stumbling out the bar for a taxi he was questioning why he had hated Wonpil all these years. Maybe it was something to do with that one summer fate that had been held in the city park on the south side with the fancy lakes and big houses. There was a boy there with a similar appearance to Wonpil who had knocked a young, 10-year-old Sungjin’s candyfloss out his hands. Maybe that’s where Sungjin’s distaste for Wonpil stemmed from – the fact he never got an apology from the child who knocked his beloved candyfloss out his hand.

Lights were out in the apartment when Sungjin managed to open the door with his double vision and shaky hands. Brian and Jae were curled up in Jae’s bed watching some movie with the door open laughing at something one of them had probably said. There was the envy string in Sungjin’s stomach as he stumbled giddily into his bedroom. He dragged his body towards his messy bed and face planted his pillows with a soft ‘oof’ as he sank in the long missed memory foam of his expensive mattress. The mattress had cost the 24-year-old an arm and a leg but it was worth it after being awoke three weeks in a row with a crick in his back and camps every time he so much as looked up to talk to Jae.

Blissful nothingness and delightful sleep soon washed over Sungjin, washing away his day of waiting, regretting, drinking and repeating. After today, Sungjin would like to believe he may have found a new friend in Wonpil even if they’re only civilised people when they’re drunk and blaming their misfortune on others like Sungjin’s English Lit Professor, Dr Song, or Wonpil modern art and architectures lecturer, Ms Ahn.

Tomorrow Sungjin would worry about the phone call of his mother and the hangover he has cursed himself with, right now Sungjin was going to sleep and envy Jae and Brian.

* * *

 

**WONPIL**

Wonpil wished he slept dreamlessly. Alternatively, his dream void was subjected to half completed dreams formed of unknown faces and over complicated melodies he had never known existed before that night’s sleep. Most of the faces were the same three, blue and purple skinned people laughing at his artwork calling him a fool for believing his artwork for was any good. Those dreams belittled Wonpil and put him off his work for a few days where he wouldn’t step foot into his bedroom unless to delve into the realms of sleep. For those days he would learn to live off coffee far too black for his liking.

He awoke with a flinch and rolled off his bed, hitting his head on his nightstand on the way causing his lamp to fall over and his oil pastels to rain down on him, decorating his stained white rug a thousand colours from their brightly coloured wrappers. It made Wonpil’s head pound and his vision spin for a few seconds but when Dowoon raced in, pyjama bottoms slipping off and black hair forming an untameable mane of mattered hair around his head. “Hyung, you ok?” He asked, sleepily opening his eyes barely. “I think so...?” Wonpil mumbled, trying to hide his smile as he stood up and shooed the younger out the room.

When Wonpil next reappeared he was wearing his signature style of what smells clean and today it’s a pretty thick black jumper and a pair of jeans that had probably once belong to Dowoon before Wonpil had done the washing last. It wasn’t easy but Wonpil managed to skirt around Dowoon’s questions of where he had been all night and made the great escape for his shoes and half ran, half stumbled uneasily to the coffee shop on the corner of the campus grounds where coffee was half price to students who lived on campus. Sadly, students who lived off campus only had a 10% reduction in price on the blissful steaming cup of energy that kept 20-something year old students awake and alive through their college career.

A familiar face worked in the local Coffee shop, thoughtfully titled ‘Coffee Club’. Brian had his shiny name badge on and a permanent customer service smile engraved into his face. “I’ll take whatever has the most caffeine in it and the least amount of anything to do with sugar.” A smile made itself front and centre on Wonpil’s face as he spotted the drinking buddy he claimed the night before. Amusingly, he was bent over a cup of what looked like black coffee at an awkward angel and was attempting to open a packet of painkillers. “Here,” Offered the younger holding his palm out foe Sungjin to pass him the packet of aspirin.

* * *

**BRIAN**

Pleasantly surprised, Brian observed from his post at the coffee machine Wonpil and Sungjin converse like old friends. It was a little unsettling after the outbursts both man had had just the week before where Wonpil had dramatically emptied the contents of his glass all over Jae.  Later, Sungjin chased Jae all the way from their apartment to Dowoon’s dorm on campus grounds – a 15-minute walk away.

 The screeching of the Jurassic Coffee machine beside Brian was what brought him out of his thoughts, consequently back to the lime mug he was holding in his hand for Wonpil’s freshly brewed coffee.

Quickly, Brian added up a receipt for Wonpil then trotted over to the pair. “One black coffee for Wonpil with his favourite orange infusion cinnamon stick on the side." Recalled Brian, placing the lime mug down with its matching lime sourer that bared the orange infused cinnamon stick Wonpil loved so much.

A brief silence filled the air before the idea of charging Wonpil struck Brian. “That 2.38 Orange Peel.” Brown haired Brian laughed at the nickname, snatched the change and darted back off to his post before the mid-morning rush began for College students to get their morning. However, experience played its own role and Brian knew for a fact morning classes were the downfall of any college student who wanted to make it to 30 with all their brain cells intact.

College students came and went all morning while Brian’s customer service smile just bright and brighter as he watched the clock tick towards clocking off time. The whole day had passed in somewhat of a haze as Brian spent most of his time with his thoughts preoccupied by a certain giant chicken little human look alike. He may have been acting like a schoolgirl with a crush but he was excited for once in a blue moon. A week had flown by since the _incident_ – as Brian liked to refer to it – and Jae had told him out the blue that morning that he had their date planned, something Brian had honestly forgotten amongst the last few days he had been spending with his a-little-most-than-a-best-friend.

* * *

“Hello? Earth to Brian?” Junhyeon waved a hand in front of Brian’s face, holding up a bag he had never seen before. “Jae left this on your bed, said you were gonna need it tonight.” With a sigh and a roll of his eyes Junhyeok left their dorm room, muttering something about getting a drink with Dowoon.

Inside the bag was an outfit Jae had pinched off Brian a long time ago. It was possibly his favourite hoodie and the jeans he had had for some birthday months ago. What was surprising about the bag was the deflated balloon lying dormant in the bottom of the darkness. The balloon housed a post-it note scribbled on in Jae’s scruffy handwriting: _last minute I know, but how does Incheon fair sound?_

Incheon fair, a children’s paradise and probably the only place that still sold the greatest sugar confectionary Brian had ever discovered, the famous lemonade candy floss twirl. For a lemonade flavoured ice cream decorated with Lemon flavoured candy floss it beckoned Brian’s sweet tooth whenever he was close enough to taste the demon treat.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the beginning of everything :))  
> this chapter is probably a little short but writer's block came knocking but i wanted to post something today  
> so enjoy reading whatever this mess is :)))

**SUNGJIN**

It’s 5 o’clock on a Friday night when there’s a phone call off Sungjin that Dowoon had not been expecting. “Can I crash at yours tonight? _Jaehyungparkian_ is planning an outing and I don’t wish to see the end of it.” Sungjin cringed at the idea of what could happen, he did not want to leave his apartment in the middle of the night because he was faced with Jae and Brian. “And by outing, I mean Jae’s got a date planned.” Sungjin added to emphasise his point and get some sympathy out of the younger student. “Hang on, did you just say _Jae_ and _date_ in the same sentence?” From there it was simply Dowoon laughing and somebody shouting in the background – more than likely a sleepy Wonpil who hadn’t had enough coffee to keep him going. “Sure hyung, the sofa’s free.”

There’s a slam of a door and Sungjin is running down a staircase out of his apartment and heading in the direction of the bus stop a street away from his and Jae’s cramped apartment in a cheaper area of the city.

The bus Sungjin boards takes him to somewhere he didn’t think he’d be happy to see. It’s a small bar off the main drag of the city’s main shopping district. Sungjin has known the bar for years and isn’t one to shy away from the cheap soju and rice wine sold, but also the international alcoholic drinks served would sometimes take his fancy. It seemed Sungjin was turning into some kind of alcoholic but he had recently come to the conclusion he can only stand Kim Wonpil if he’s drunk or hungover.

What Sungjin didn’t expect was to see Wonpil sat in a corner in his lonesome drinking rice wine and moving his head along to the music being played through the speakers, muffled by the many voices talking. Feeling the need to be polite and sociable, Sungjin approached Wonpil with a half faked smile and an easy ‘what brings you here, Wonpil’.

Within moments a conversation had begun and within the next hour and a half Wonpil and Sungjin were so equally drunk, neither cared that they were supposed to have some social issues dating back to the 4th century.

* * *

 

**JAE**

The train journey out of Seoul into Incheon wouldn’t have been a problem for Jae normally but with stress making his hair feel like it was falling out, Brian smiling a little too much and the old lady next to him breathing down his neck he was ready to snap. He was in over his head and he was overloading. He wanted everything to go right but at the same time the stress of knowing things could go wrong were sending Jae more than insane, he wanted nothing more than to scream or maybe rip his hair out. But, instead, he was smiling sweetly at Brian as he watched the many trees and houses outside the window pass by at 200 mph. Brian was giving him an equally beautiful smile – if Jae did say so himself – as he talked very animatedly about his love for Lemonade Candy Floss Swirl. Jae was making mental notes as Brian talked about what to do, what to eat, what to show him. Jae may like to consider himself a matchmaker but he wasn’t considered a date idea expert.

As a matter of fact, it had been Wonpil who had suggested Incheon fair because Wonpil is Wonpil and knows everything about everyone and what they like so much. It just so happens that Brian has a sweet tooth and a childish side. Everything Wonpil had said was making Jae fall a little bit harder than before, Jae may not be in _love_ but he knew there was something there and he was happy to let it grow.

Brian’s eyes doubled in size to the size of dinner plates when he saw the fair. Consequently, the amazement in the younger’s eyes made Jae’s stomach do a little flip as he thought about the look that would be in his eyes if he disappointed him.

Lights decorated the many trees leading up to the entrance of the fairground. They changed frequently from a soft yellow to pink then to blue and green. The lights reflected of Brian’s eyes like a little child as he took in the many fairy lights surrounding them. “They’re so beautiful.” He muttered in pure amazement. The expression on his face was pure delight as he turned toward the older male, his eyes still reflecting the lights, “Aren’t they beautiful, Jae?” The response given wasn’t really expected by either of the pair: “They’re as beautiful as you make them.” Jae smiled bashfully, ducking his head into the neck of his turtle neck. Brian stared at Jae in pure amazement as smiled gently at him.

Still in his state of bashfulness, something took a grip of Jae’s left gloved hand. Brian had slipped his own gloved hand into Jae’s and was smiling timidly back up at the taller male behind his scarf. Jae couldn’t help but have a minor melt down and a freak out in his head as he gushes silently to himself at _how fucking adorable this guy is._

Together, hand in hand, the pair make their way forward.

“You wanna get ice cream?” Jae asks almost instantly, his bashful smile replaced with one of childish joy at the creamy treat. Brian’s expression mirrored that of Jae’s gleeful childishness, “Ice cream sounds amazing.”

The walk away from an ice cream stand with two coconut ice creams with chocolate swirls and Jae’s with bubblegum sauce – a disgusting combination that only Jae could find in his heart and taste buds to love. Brian screwed his nose up and ate his ice cream with his free hand. Jae then struck up a conversation in English, something that took Brian a little by surprise considering it had been months Jae had mentioned a single English word so a sentence was a little surprising. “This place is huge; don’t you think?” Jae beamed up at the Ferris wheel, it’s lights bright as it rotated clockwise.

The shorter of the pair followed the elder’s eyes towards the ride at the far side of the fairground, “Ferris wheel?” Jae visibly paled at the thought, shrinking away from Brian – the fear was a little obvious. “Not Ferris wheel then,” Brian’s eyes scanned across the grounds for something else to do, “Coconut shy?” Jae perked up slightly at the mention of something not the Ferris wheel. “If you can beat me that is.” Jae smirked, pulling Brian along towards the red and white tent across the walkway.

Two games down, several thousand won later and Brian had the smug look of a winner on his face as he presented Jae, very cheesily, with his reward of a gigantic teddy bear that could easily match Brian in height. It was a cliché move, winning a bear and what not on a date, but it made Brian beam and Jae wasn’t going to say anything as he tucked the brown bear under his arm and began pulling him towards a little train ride.

By the end of the night between the two of them there were five bears, two nearly the size of Brian and the other three not much smaller, they had eaten two candy flosses, a hot dog each and an extra cone of ice cream between them, they had also ridden the Ferris wheel with a very unwilling Jae. The final thing they did was explore the maze of bushes, decorated with a thousand fairy lights, their many bear children in their arms. The maze had been the highlight of Jae’s trip because he and Brian could walk hand in hand, alone without the stares and the whispers of people around them. It was peaceful as well and he could absorb the simple, quiet beauty of the shorter male.

At the center of the maze Jae stopped to examine a large plant pot filled with various flowers ranging from roses to lilies and they were all beautiful in shades of red, orange and pink that reminded Jae of one of the many romances he had watched in class when their professor had wanted to share one of her favourite cinematic experiences with her students. Jae spun, as best as he could, Brian around in his arms so he could face the younger not 3 teddy bears he hadn’t expected to win. “Am I allowed to keep taking you out on cheesy, cliché date or do I have to ask for your dad’s permission Mr Kang?” grinned Jae, resting his forehead against Brian’s. “I don’t see why not Mr Park.” Brian laughed, placing a peck on the tip of Jae’s nose.

* * *

 

**DOWOON**

6am Dowoon walked into Wonpil’s room. He saw something did not want to see nor expected to see.

In Wonpil’s bed was Wonpil, hanging off the edge of his bed, muttering in his sleep about paint and something to do with fig rolls. That was the normal bit, the _un-normal_ bit was the fact Wonpil wasn’t wearing the t-shirt Dowoon had seen him leave in, he was wearing Sungjin’s, the one that was even too big for Jae. The next suspicious thing Dowoon’s coffee coloured eyes landed on was the body beside Wonpil, his mouth was half open, drool dried on his chin, his hair sticking up in the weirdest places as he rolled about in his sleep. Sungjin wasn’t covered by any of Wonpil’s blanket, unfortunately, Dowoon got an eyeful of Sungjin’s boxers that he never wanted to see. At least the older was wearing a t-shirt, even if it was one of the old one Dowoon had given to Wonpil to paint in because he couldn’t work miracles with washing machines sadly.

“Ahem, hyung?” Dowoon called into the room to neither body in particular but they both began to stir from their slumber. It amused Dowoon at the pair’s reaction when they acknowledged each other. “What the-!” Wonpil screeched, tumbling off his bed and landing on his back as Sungjin jumped to his feet, looking like he had just seen a ghost before deciding he had too much of a hangover and dropping back onto the bed a little too dramatically. Wonpil’s eyes the widened to the size of dinner plates when they landed on the discarded condom, a few inches away from his nose. “What happened last night!” Wonpil yelped, shuffling away from the used condom just sitting on the floor beside his bed, a mile away from the waste paper basket which was the other side of his bed. “I think the better question is,” Sungjin grunted, lifting his head a fraction of an inch, “why am I wearing clothes that don’t belong to me?” Dowoon had forgotten what a neat freak Sungjin could be like.

Dowoon left the room while the two males came to terms with what happened last night and began making breakfast. Yes, it was 6am but he always made sure Wonpil was up at 6 and there was breakfast for 7, even if 9 times out of the 10 it was burned beyond recognition and they had to wonder down to a fast food place to eat breakfast.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**BRIAN**

Truth be told, one of Brian's guilty pleasures was to watch friends. He enjoyed the stories lines about Rachel, Ross, Monica, Marcel, Joey, Chandler and Phoebe. Sadly, he wasn't interested in the cast of Dowoon, Sungjin and Wonpil. Yet, he was still trapped in Dowoon's bedroom while Sungjin and Wonpil shouted at each other, insulting each other and throwing things that belonged to Dowoon. Brian liked the comedy of friends and the stupid things that went wrong because of Marcel, he didn't like the fact he nearly just got hit in the nose by Wonpil's flying house keys that had been aimed at Sungjin's face as he dashed from his position stood on Dowoon's bed to hide inside his standing wardrobe. The keys soared through the air, nearly caught Brian in the eye and crashed into the wall just above where Sungjin had been stood seconds beforehand. Brian loved seeing Marcel the monkey mess up and climb all over the place, partly ruining Ross' day. Brian did not enjoy Dowoon clinging to his arm, practically trying to climb up him in fear of the angry Wonpil screaming abuse at Sungjin because 'his arse still hurts more than his head'. The thing is, if Jae had been present, Sungjin probably wouldn't currently be using a waste paper basket as a helmet against the many things being thrown by the extremely angry Kim

"Park Sungjin! When I get my hands on you, you're going to regret being born!" This whole situation was very uncharacteristic of Wonpil, but then nobody other than Dowoon had seen the art student with a hangover. Although no one had ever seen him after having a hangover and a one night stand with his 'frienenemy', it was making Brian crease up secretly in his head at the whole situation. "I'm sorry you bitter dick twisted bastard!" Sungjin retorted, pushing Dowoon's wheel chair in the way of the swiftly approaching younger with fury in his eyes, "We were drunk!" That seemed to stop Wonpil's advances, his hand frozen in the air, comically almost. His hand was frozen in the air, his mouth was hanging slightly open and his eyes were still filled with livid anger. Brian couldn't help himself, he had to voice his opinion, "Guys, isn't this kind of - I don't know - _childish_?" Both Wonpil and Sungjin cried a response at the same time, "Shut up Younghyun!"

His name shocked Brian into silence as the pair continued to stare each other down like the other was the reason they had faced every problem they had ever experienced in life.

Dowoon was still clinging to Brian’s arm like it was the only thing tethering him to the earth at that moment in time. “Well this has been fun but I think it’s time I take Sungjin home.” Brian smiled, shaking himself out of Dowoon’s grip and grabbing his boyfriend’s roommate by the shoulder. The Bob the builder lookalike tried to put up a silent fight but he obediently followed Brian out the room and into the main living room where the younger of the pair grabbed an apple out the fruit bowl Dowoon generally kept stocked up for the sake of Wonpil’s artistic comas that kept him locked up in his bedroom for days on end. Brian released Sungjin and made his way towards where he had abandoned his trainers by the door. “I hope you know I’m missing friends for this. You owe me.”

* * *

 

**WONPIL**

He didn’t know why he had reacted like he did. He just wanted a reason to shout probably. He wasn’t angry at Sungjin – no, he liked Sungjin now that he got to know him – he was angry with himself for letting himself get drunk and wake up with some dangerous evidence in his bedroom. He had taken his anger out on Sungjin because that was what he had always down, unfortunately Dowoon and Brian were there to see him lose his cool so dramatically, it was his embarrassment that had then fueled his anger and made it worse for him. He had probably just ruined a friendship that was just sprouting roots and he had probably said too much for Dowoon and Brian to hear. One stupid mistake and he’s probably lost all the friends he’s ever had because no doubt it would reach back to Jae, because let’s face it Jae and Brian are two peas in a pod. For a long time Wonpil had seen them as close as brothers until now, they were closer than that it seemed.

Wonpil assumed it was his anger at himself that made him do what he did next. He pulled open one of the drawers under his bed and pulled out his box of expensive, unopened oil pastels his parents had saved up for months to buy him for his birthday the year before. He hastily opened the cardboard box that housed the pastels and then hurriedly released them from their plastic prison so they were lying across the white bedsheets of his bed – he couldn’t care less at this moment in time if his sheets were stained. Next Wonpil moved his rug off the floor and easily replaced with a piece of A1 paper, which he taped to the floor with masking tape so the corners wouldn’t curl as he worked. Wonpil was feeling himself fall into a creativity chasm so he opened his door to see if his younger roommate was anywhere to be seen. It was just his luck that Dowoon was sat on the sofa playing Mario kart by his lonesome, “I’m busy, I’ll see you in a day or so.” Wonpil called over than locked his door without another word.

Now dressed in an old pair of shorts, a shirt with mismatched buttons and a window wide open, Wonpil started to bring his blank canvas to life. He used colours of red and gold, amber and rose, green and indigo, even midnight and sunrise. It was going to be the greatest masterpiece Wonpil had ever made.

Within a few hours Wonpil had broken three pencils, used us two pastels completely and his hair had streaks of pain in it because he was currently using storm grey paint to complete parts of his work. There were patches of various colours staining his bed covers and he had already flicked paint all over himself, it looked like a colour filed bomb had gone off in his messy bedroom. Beauty was being created on Wonpil’s page and destruction was decorating Wonpil’s bedroom.

Wonpil was an artist, not a cleaner. Every inch of everything was decorated with at least some obscure colour it normally wouldn’t be, like his family photograph stood on his bed side cabinet was a bright pink and his reading lamp was orange. It was beautiful to and artist but to an outside it was a mess and Wonpil couldn’t care less.

Not too long later Wonpil was stretched across his bed, clutching little Eunji to his chest and crying softly. Lord knew why he was crying but he had had some sort of wave of emotions and he was now a wreck. Something was on his mind but he didn’t know what it was, all he knew was his day had started with him shouting at his friends and had ended with him crying into his tiny hamster fur. “Oh Eunji, I really am a bad person aren’t I?” He asked the small animal as he watched her nibble on the end of his finger. Sadly, the hamster couldn’t respond to Wonpil. Wonpil lay limply on his bed questioning his existence and what friendships he would have left as his hamster continued to crawl over his chest. Maybe if Wonpil had been given a puppy as a leaving present it would have more emotional understanding, because Eunji simply crawling across his chest wasn’t making him feel any better than when he didn’t have her out her cage on his desk.

* * *

 

**JAE featuring SUNGJIN singing nursery rhymes**

Normally, Jae would find it hilarious that Sungjin had been shouted at by a guy 2 years younger than him and probably a head shorter but it wasn’t funny when Sungjin had come home looking like his pet dog had died or something. It made Jae wonder what could have happened but he couldn’t get answers out of Sungjin and Brian when they had walked in, Dowoon had said he didn’t want to talk about it and Wonpil wasn’t picking his phone up. Jae was actually becoming quite grouchy that his friends were leaving him out of their problems, he may not have been a great help but they were his friends and he had been brought up to believe that friends were the closest thing to family you were ever going to get when you left home, but, here he was being ignored by Wonpil, told to go away by Sungjin, getting the cold shoulder off Dowoon and Brian was persistent it wasn’t his story to tell.

In time Jae chose it would be better ignoring the growing between his friends and chose instead he was going to make himself some ramen and go to bed since Brian had gone home ages ago, promising that tomorrow he would be back to buy Jae and ice cream and generally hang out as they always had – at least they could still be natural around each other, but then it had been a day since their date and almost a week since Jae had asked his best friend out. That made Jae smile as he boiled his ramen. A whole week had nearly passed and he still hadn’t heard the mention that Brian was moving to another country because he felt uncomfortable now around Jae.

“Do I smell Ramen?” Sungjin yawned, walking out of his bedroom wrapped up in a blanket burrito. He tripped over his feet and nearly went flying across the room if it wasn’t for Jae throwing his wooden spoon at Sungjin and knocking him onto the sofa beside him – it wasn’t the smartest idea Jae had ever had but it had stopped his roommate from breaking his nose. Jae turned the head down on the ramen and looked back at the sleepy Sungjin with his dishevelled shirt and mismatching socks that were just sticking out below his blue blanket. “I made enough for two, want some?” A slight smile crept across Sungjin’s face, failing to hide how tired he truly looked, “I’d love some.”

That’s the story of how an English major and film student found themselves sat in the middle of their living room carpet singing various English nursey rhymes out of tune with heavy Korean accents (faked on Jae’s behalf). They ate ramen, drank fake coke named something like caramel fizz and sang songs they hadn’t heard in a long time. Jae and Sungjin may never have seen each other as close but right now Jae was there to cheer Sungjin up and he didn’t burn ramen liked Brian did all too often. Sungjin was able to forget the day’s event in Jae’s company and ignore the guilt he was feeling and the constant numb feeling he had ricocheting around his heart. He may not have been the most helpful person in the world, and he might have thought calling Wonpil a snake funny, and compared his friends to cartoons but Jae was still the closest Sungjin was going to get to family anytime soon and he owed his senior a hell of a lot more than he let on all the time.

The final song of the evening was a duet of ‘at last I see the light’ from Disney’s ‘Tangled’ with Sungjin singing Rapunzel’s lines in broken English as Jae encouraged him by shouting Flynn’s lines into his chopsticks. The scene was quite comical as the pair ended their night with sore tummies and loud laughter. They bid each other goodnight and escaped back to their separate rooms where Sungjin planned on sleeping the next three weeks away and Jae was planning to skype his parents back home to tell them about the week had just had because he was certain they would love to hear their son was finally doing something other than doodle cartoons in books and steal his dad’s video camera.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DONT WORRY!! this chapter is deliberately short  
> the next one is gonna be the longest chapter in history, i've got that much planned for it

**SUNGJIN**

He had lost track of the weeks a long time ago. It could have been two weeks or four months; he didn’t know anymore. The only time he left the apartment was when he had school and he hardly said anything to anyone anymore, he kept to himself and slept more than he should need to but he was always feeling so emotionally drained and so physically drained all he could do was sleep. Jae was writing his homework for him in fear of him falling behind and Brian was having to walk him to class to make sure he didn’t just slump over in the library and sleep school away. Even Dowoon knew something wasn’t right because he missed their Saturday cinema trips and tips for his photography. Sungjin was just that glue that held everyone together and he had been missing for what felt like forever.

Even _Wonpil_ was missing him.

It took every ounce of strength Sungjin had left not to fall back to sleep when his alarm in the form of a 20-something year old came banging on his door. “Sungjin! It’s 11 o’clock, do you want me to bring anything back from work?” Jae continued hammering on the door waiting for a response from Sungjin to at least know the guy was alive - as dark as it sounds. “Can you get me some cranberry tea please; I’ve been told I look a bit pale recently.” Sungjin called back feeling a little light headed, but thankfully the noise Jae was creating stopped, there was a small reply of something like ‘sure’ or ‘yeah’ he didn’t know and he couldn’t really care what Jae had said: he just wanted to go back to sleep.

Sleep didn’t return, Sungjin couldn’t even bring himself to doze, nothing was working. He tried counting sheep, listening to relaxing music and just lying in bed staring at the ceiling. In the end, he got up. In truth, he couldn’t remember the last time he had showered, the last time he had a haircut or the last time he had eaten a proper meal, and thus began Sungjin’s day of change.

He showered for a good part of an hour, ate actual food like a carrot and what was left of the takeout Brian and Jae had ordered, and downed three quarters of a bottle of an orange juice that was left in the fridge. Now he was toeing on a pair of old trainers that were probably Jae’s and preparing to leave when there was a soft knock at the door. It was odd and unfamiliar. He wasn’t sure who it could be. Only Jae, Brian and Dowoon knew where he lived and each of them had distinctive knocks he would recognise in heartbeat (plus Jae has his own keys). Jae's knock was annoying and repetitive, Brian’s echoed around his head and lingered in the air, refusing to be ignored, and Dowoon’s was simple and had a familiar feeling linger after it, he knocked twice and would wait.

Whoever was at the door was somebody else. And the thought of who it could be didn’t sound good. Sungjin sighed to himself, kicking his shoes off again and slouched towards the door. He gave himself a silent pep talk then pulled the door open.

Outside it was raining, not heavily, but enough to soak someone to the skin if they stayed outside in it too long. The grey clouds over head were beautiful, crying their tears on the earth, decorating everything in a layer of water, reflecting images back at the sky. Wonpil stood in a black raincoat, his dark hair falling over his eyes in a damp waterfall, rain was dripping off the bottom of his coat and pooling around his ankles, in his hand he held a plastic portfolio case that had rain dripping down it too, threatening to seep in a destroy whatever the case was protecting. A few seconds passed between the pair awkwardly as Sungjin stared at Wonpil and Wonpil stared at Sungjin’s feet.

The rain made Wonpil’s eyes darker, like you could swim in their midnight darkness and right now that was all Sungjin wanted to do. The rain made Wonpil's silhouette stand out from the blurred and discoloured background. Sungjin could see it all now that Wonpil was something else. He had seen Wonpil as something in his way, an obstacle or something blocking the view of his future, his goal in life, but looking at the student before him he sees a lost little boy looking for love and friendship, he's broken and wants nothing more to be accepted but both himself and Sungjin have been pushing their friendship away. Maybe this is the moment that Sungjin realised that maybe Wonpil wasn't his worst enemy but rather he was jealous of everything Wonpil had, he overlooked what he didn't have and now he admits to maybe he was falling slowly in love with Wonpil. He's slowly admitting that he pushed him away to protect himself and he can see he's hurt the younger just as much as he's been hurt by him and he's hurt himself.

“Can I come in?”

* * *

  **WONPIL**

It had possibly been raining for an hour when Wonpil finally found his other trainer hidden under his dirty laundry pile, and a few cardboard boxes of stuff he had forgot about a long time ago. The shoe could have belonged to ancient king it was falling apart so badly, but, he was running low on funds and there was no way in hell he would be able to pay for a new pair of trainers this side of graduating college so he suffered getting cold feet and wet feet when he needed to. Those shoes were like a metaphor for his own life at the moment, they were well loved and involved in everything but they falling apart at the seams uncontrollably. He loved those trainers, they were a gift off his grandma but he wouldn’t be able to wear them forever, much like he wouldn’t be able to keep all the same friends forever.

Next, Wonpil opened his closet. He kept anything he didn’t want covered in paint or oil pastel in there. Everything that was contained within the closet was immaculate, kept safe and clean. When Wonpil could, he liked to take of what he had as best as he possibly could. From his closet he retrieved his portfolio case he carried most of his homework in when he had a showcase. A sad smile found home on Wonpil’s face as a few photos dropped out the case. It was a string of photos like those ones you get from a photo booth. Dowoon had taken them as part of his photography project of himself and Sungjin in their happy drunk states a long time ago. They were some of his favourite photos but now they’re just memories of a time he had wasted being bitter and cold towards someone who was just trying to survive their existence like he was.

Normally, he wouldn’t dwell on the past but today he was feeling extra nostalgic as he glanced at the photographs, he placed them beside the picture of his parents on his night stand and returned to the task at hand. From beneath his bed, Wonpil pulled a large framed painting and placed it delicately in his portfolio case. The piece had been meant for an art showcase weeks ago but Wonpil never attended with the piece he had created knowing that the person he had made it for would never agree to show up, even if he handed him the invitation and got down on his knees to beg them. It wasn’t worth going if his artwork wasn’t going to be appreciated he decided.

Finally, with his raincoat and trainers on he stepped out into the rain.

It didn’t take long to regret stepping foot outside the apartment he and Dowoon shared on campus when he left the safety of the many balconies of the campus housing complex and on to the main streets he usually avoided in the rain. His shoes were slowly filling with rain, making his feet wet and soaking his socks. His hair was falling in front of his eyes, blocking his vision from the world around him – he didn’t mind not seeing what was around him, he gave him time to think. Time to think about everything. Everything that went right, everything that went wrong, everything that was in the middle. These days it was rare he had time to think about himself because he was always being the overbearing, overprotective best friend for Jae and Brian since Sungjin was failing at his job and he focusing on keeping Dowoon sane and not losing his mind in the meantime.

The rain seems like it might lighten up as he crosses one of the main streets in the centre of the city. He narrowly misses the front end of a car which had sped around the corner in the air and was skidding towards him. From the safety of the pavement he broke into a run to get out of the rain. He spotted a subway entrance not far and dashed down the tunnel knowing the platform would buy him a few seconds of time out the rain if he exited on the other side of the platform outside the complex Jae lived in.

Those few seconds were all he needed to regain a little composure as he ran up the stairs of the station, slipping on one and landing on his ankle. The pain that shot up through his leg didn’t stop him, he needed to get there soon. He didn’t want to get there and find out he had left or had better things to do, if h was desperate he might take pity on him, even if it was only a few minutes. Even his own pride was worth damaging for the chance to hand over one last gift. He only hoped his efforts would be appreciated and he would be forgiven.

Sungjin was too stubborn, he knew this, but every ounce of hope he still had left was what was pushing him forwards, no matter how hard reality was telling him to give up.

The concrete stairs up to the apartment caused him to fall a second time, this time he fell awkwardly on his arm – he really shouldn’t run up stairs. He slammed down a corridor, turned onto the B staircase and stopped running. He didn’t want to seem all too desperate to be there, after all, fate was against him as it always was.

At first he was too scared to knock, then he was too angry to knock, and then resentful, but finally, guilt got the better of him and he tapped the door gently hoping Sungjin was still in and would still be in. As far Wonpil was still concerned, Jae would be at work and Brian was helping Junhyeok move out.

He who opened the door looked nothing like the man Wonpil knew. He wore a shirt too many sizes too big for his frame, there was condition still in his hair and on his feet were mismatched socks with more holes than a block of Emmental cheese. This was supposed to be Park Sungjin but all Wonpil saw was a stranger who was as lost as he felt. Shame made him look away; he had cause this.

_It was all his fault this had happened._

_He had agreed to go to the coffee shop with Jae._

_He had drank with Sungjin._

_He had done things with Sungjin he didn't speak of._

_worst of all, he fell in love with Sungjin a long time ago._


	7. the finale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for anybody who did previously read this while it was still water colour daydreams and scented markers:  
> i chose to change the title very last minute because i felt the plot of the story didn't match the title or the way the ending was heading.  
> that being said i hope everyone enjoys the final chapter of the beginning of Jaehyungparkian and Sungpil.  
> \---------------------------  
> i'm naming their cat Amber because why not?

If only there was silence, Sungjin might have been able to think better if there was but, as always, Jae was talking over the television, which was already too loud to begin with. It was Thursday night, and Thursday night was always movie night at Brian and Jae’s shared apartment. Sungjin was never really one for films, he had always been someone who leaned more towards literary works so Thursday nights became nights where he was able to catch up with his friends, think about his work and other things but Thursday nights also gave him the chance to feel at ease and less stressed with the world.

Wonpil is curled up beside Sungjin hogging the bowl of popcorn that Brian had just made and making himself at home enjoying the company of Amber, Jae’s recently adopted kitten that Brian had protested against for a month but his argument crumbled the second he saw the Maine Coon with her sea green eyes and brindle stripes. The day Amber had been welcomed into their home Brian had announced to Wonpil, via a phone call, that Amber was the only girl he was ever going to fall in love with.

From the other side of the room sit Brian and Jae, sprawled across the other sofa. Jae is talking to Brian about everything and nothing all too loudly but the younger of the pair doesn’t seem to care that Jae is nearly shouting as he nods along to his words, tangling his fingers in the hair on the back of Jae’s neck. Jaehyungparkian are a little too sweet and a little too domestic for Sungjin at times as he returns his attention back to the television screen where the film was playing.

This time it had been Wonpil’s turn to select a movie and he had jumped at the chance to place one of his favourite movies ever in the DVD player. On the screen, Owen Wilson was staring as Gil Pender in _Midnight in Paris_ , a movie about a screenwriter facing difficulties with his materialistic fiancée, and each night he spends walking the streets of Paris travelling back in time to escape. Sungjin had only asked Wonpil once why he loved the movie so much, all the younger male replied with was he enjoyed the themes behind the movie

* * *

_“Wonpil?” Sungjin asked, glancing at his boyfriend from his position in front of the DVD rack holding a cardboard box in his hand already containing many of their CDs and picture frames. The side of the box read ‘valuables’ and large block letters, the pair were clearing out their apartment and packing up everything they owned ready for next week when they moved into their new apartment much bigger than the one they currently shared. Wonpil’s head popped up in the kitchen, where he was packing away glasses, “What’s wrong hyung?” Wonpil called back, slightly preoccupied. Sungjin was sighing to himself as he tried not to laugh to himself, “Why do we have two copies of Midnight in Paris?” A flush spread from Wonpil’s ears to his neck faintly as he shrunk a little, “I lost the copy you got me for my birthday so I brought another. I couldn’t bear to throw out the old case.” Amusement filled Sungjin’s eyes as he placed both the DVD cases into the box without a second thought. “Why do you like that film so much?” He asked as he filed through other DVDs stacked close to him. Wonpil shrugged from his position from the kitchen, not realising Sungjin was no longer facing him. When he did realise he_ _sighed, “I guess I just like the theme of modernism… it makes me feel nostalgic, like when we were still in school, when I was still painting and you were still writing.”_

* * *

Brian glances down at Jae who had his head resting against his collar bone and flashes him a thousand-killer watt smile, Jae easy returns the smile and goes back to playing with the bottom of Brian’s shirt. It was the millionth time Jae had watched the movie so he wasn’t really interested in what was happening on screen but he had himself lost in his lover’s eyes. Brian’s eyes reminded Jae of chilly day in autumn, they were the colour of soft caramel sweets his grandmother always kept in a jar on her table, Brian’s eyes always held some home comfort for Jae which is why he adored his smiles. Brian wasn’t one who screwed his eyes shut when he closed his eyes and you could always see them light up like someone was flicking on a switch behind his eyes.

“Hey, Brian…” Jae whispered gently, still absentmindedly playing with the bottom of his Dark Side of the Moon shirt that Jae had given to him for a birthday God knows how long ago, Brian hummed in response, his eyes following the movement on screen lazily. “let’s get married.”

The response Jae got was not the one he thought he would get.

Sudden shock struck Brian like a bolt of lightning. He began to choke on his popcorn, his eyes blown wide. Wonpil and Amber both picked their heads up at the sound of Brian retching and choking on his popcorn, Jae was on his feet looking beyond fearful. In Brian’s eyes there were traces of shock but he mostly had distress consuming his expression. Sungjin couldn’t have been more laid back as he stood up and walked towards Brian and sat the younger up from his laying down position, and then he put the fear of God into Jae as he slapped Brian between the shoulder blades. The motion created an echo so loud that it was still ringing in Jae’s ears when Brian registered that the popcorn had landed in the middle of the room and he was able to breathe again.

“Well?” Jae asked with a hopeful look on his face, Brain sighed and hid his face in his hands to hide his embarrassment more than his amusement. Sungjin raised a brow at the older male who was looking like a kicked puppy or a small child who had dropped his lollipop. “Brian,” He whined like the responsible adult he was, “Answer me!” Brian glanced up from his hands, his face the colour of a tomato, “You can’t ask me questions like that in the middle of Wonpil’s movie!” Brian responded, his blush travelling further and further down his ears and gently spreading towards his ears.

Looks of complete confusion were passed between Wonpil and Sungjin who hadn’t witnessed the earlier interaction between Jae and Brian because Wonpil was focused on the movie and Sungjin was too busy describing Wonpil in his head, comparing him to Amber. “What happened?” Silence fills the air as Brian stares at Jae like a sunburnt penguin and Jae stares back, beginning to feel flushed. Wonpil can’t decide if his friends are just dumb or if one of them was one dropped on their head at birth.

Silence was stretching thin now; the only noise was the soft murmur of the television. Owen Wilson was talking to Pablo Picasso with Korean subtitles playing bellow their faces as they spoke. “Kang Younghyun!” Jae yelled, breaking the silence and sounding like a pre-pubescent teenage boy as his voice cracked half way through his boyfriend of the last 5 years’ name, “Answer me already! Will you marry me?”

A glass shattered. Everyone’s heads whipped around to see the kitten on the coffee table staring at the floor where she had just knocked over Sungjin’s drink. Amber looked innocently back at her human owners, acting like she hadn’t got her head stuck in the glass and pushed it off the table to escape the glass prison. The younger of Jaehyungparkian opened his mouth to say something but Wonpil turned on him, “You better answer hyung, he looks like he might die from frustration.” He comments sweetly, something deadly lying low in the corner of his eye as he smiled at Brian like a baby sun.

In and out, in and out. Come on, you know how to breathe, act like. Brian’s mouth opened momentarily, his lower jaw moving up and down as if chewing on his words and the he stopped and looked Jae directly in the eye, ignoring Sungjin and Wonpil completely.

“Park Jaehyung, sometimes I hate you so much. I can’t even say you ruin my life when you are my life,” he sighs, rubbing his hand together, deep in thought, “It’s been 5 years and you haven’t changed in the slightest. Still the same old dumb smile, still the same old dumb movies, same old dumb couch. I guess it’s going to be new dumb husband now then?” Jae takes a few moments to take on board what Brian was saying. “Everything with you is out of the blue, I could have planned you a surprise birthday party and I would be the one getting surprised. For once I wanted to be two steps ahead of you, but I guess I’m only one.” Now everyone feels confused, even Amber seems mildly interested in what was happening, wondering in her cat mind why all the strange bigger cats were crowded around the soft, raised floor.

It’s even more confusing for the group as Brian gets up off the sofa and walks past Sungjin and in the direction of his and Jae’s shared room.

It’s like the whole room was holding their breath when Brian walks back into the room seconds later but this time there’s something in his hand. Sungjin is sure Jae has stopped breathing at this point and Wonpil might be freaking out silently behind him. Brian smiled bright and wide, his eyes filled with sweet and pure adoration for the eldest member of the quartet. A little black flies through the air that Jae instinctively catches.

Sungjin can’t tell if Wonpil or Jae is in more shock but he knows that they’re both just as amazed at Brian’s bravery and complete stupidity. Sungjin cleared his throat loudly enough to get the attention of his friends, “This may be a bad time to say anything, but I think it’s time Wonpil and I headed home.” Wonpil agreed silently, detaching himself from Jae’s side where they were both staring at the white gold ring and made his way towards the coat rack to get his coat and shoes on.

* * *

 

Moonlight has a milky white purity it bestows upon the Earth in its hours of reign over the Earth. The moonlight’s beauty shone down on Wonpil and Sungjin who were walking side by side, hand in hand, silently appreciating the other’s company. Wonpil is softly humming under his breath as he glanced at passing street signs or as the occasional car passed by. Sungjin was quiet as ever, simply enjoying the way Wonpil’s hand fit in his own, like it was made just for him. Milky moonlight lit up the younger’s face as Sungjin occasionally glanced at him, taking in his breath taking beauty.

“Which of the fates do I thank for this moment?” Mumbled Sungjin, keeping his attention focused on the pedestrian light opposite, waiting for it to turn green so they could cross. A car whizzed by, the sound of its engine swallowed any of the words Wonpil had tried to say but it didn’t matter what he had said he knew that Wonpil was reassuring him that everything they had achieved and he didn’t need to worry about waking up in the night to learn it had been snatched up from under his feet.

_“Can I come in?”_

_Sungjin pondered his response, his eyes scanning the soaked male up and down. “I suppose so.” He grumbled, skulking back into the apartment with a sour expression. Sympathy wasn’t something Sungjin could fight easily so he succumbed to himself and went to retrieve Wonpil a towel from the airing cabinet at the end of the hall. When he returned with the fluffiest towel he could find in hand Wonpil was still stood in the door way with his back to the closed door wearing his soaked coat and his shoes flooding the floor around him, Sungjin reluctantly handed Wonpil the towel and flashed him an even more reluctant smile, he was apprehensive of the younger male but instead of standing in front of him and acting suspicious of the younger he chose to go and sit down on the sofa and wait patiently for Wonpil to make himself feel presentable from the safety of the door way hidden behind the sofa._

_“We need to talk…”_

_Sungjin acknowledged his statement and gestured to the chair opposite so he could sit down and discus whatever was on his mind reasonably. Sungjin may not have been the most sensitive person on the planet but he could tell when something was troubling someone and Wonpil was going through hell. “Here.” Wonpil held his portfolio case out with a stiff arm, not looking Sungjin in the eye._

_Perplexed, Sungjin took the black case off him, “It’s all I have to give you, consider it a peace offering.” From within the case Sungjin removed a canvas the size of an A2 sheet of paper, on the canvas it was clear to see Wonpil had worked hard to complete his work. It was a delicately made image of the sun and moon. Both had been anthropomorphised to look like familiar people, Sungjin recognised them easily as himself and Wonpil. Bellow the sun and moon there was a boarder of familiar pictures Dowoon had taken of himself and Wonpil on several separate occasions, in steep cursive calligraphy Wonpil had written a short caption:_

**_My inspiration: a man who tried his hardest only to be pushed away again. Thank you._ **

_Something akin to pride began to swell in Sungjin’s chest, he could feel tears begin to form but he did everything to ignore them and look past everything he had ever said against Kim Wonpil. “Thank you.” He whispered, holding the creation to his chest, “I’m sorry too Wonpil.”_

_There was a brief pause in the atmosphere as Sungjin stood up to embrace Wonpil. Tears were falling down the youngers cheeks with relief, the greatest weight he had ever had to bare had been lifted from his shoulders and he could finally let everything he had pent up for months go. He gripped the back of Sungjin’s shirt like a life line, his knuckles turning white as he cried into his shoulder, his tears carrying his stress with them, making him feel so much lighter now it was all off his chest._

_“Pil-ah, look at me.” Their eyes met and Sungjin smiled, lifting his hand to wipe away the tears, “Smile, Pil-ah.” Wonpil smiled back, his smile watery with a laugh bubbling up in his chest. He felt like a complete child and slightly embarrassed but he finally had what he needed off his chest, finally._

_“Hyung…” Sungjin replied with a hum, “You’re staring.” Sungjin chuckled, a noise from deep within his chest, “I’m admiring your beautiful smile Wonpil.”_

* * *

And this is the end of our story. Jaehyung and Younghyun out smarted each other, fell in love and don’t plan on changing anything any time soon, other than maybe Younghyun’s surname. At the end Wonpil and Sungjin are happy. Sungjin had found his summer day who wakes him up every morning with a kiss, a cup of coffee and a quiet ‘I love you’. Wonpil doesn’t regret his choice of colours, now he paints with a blank canvas and a beautiful finish in mind, he could finally accept the bright, warm colours of his world knowing he was going out into the world with Sungjin by his side: the dark colours to balance out his own bright colours. Finally, Dowoon has his own end in this story, as the youngest member who had watched everything between his four friends blossom all he can say is he did well. The final comment of Yoon Dowoon:

“As much as I love my friends and I want them to be happy. They’re oblivious and the only way anything was going to happen was if I did what I did. That condom was unused. I was the one who planted it.” Dowoon laughed into the receiver of his phone, Junhyeok just sniggered.


End file.
